Welcome to the chronicles of the Haanen family. With the advent of our second baby girl, we are filled with more activity and joy than ever before. Follow along with us as we venture through parenthood for the first time...

Friday, July 3, 2009

The Library of Congress

Our very last stop of D.C. was the Library of Congress, which turned out to be our favorite destination of the entire trip. The world's largest library is an architectural masterpiece and a total work of art that inspires the imagination. Founded primarily on Jefferson's own personal library, it contains topics from all spheres of knowledge, from phil0sophy and literature to art and science. The walls are adorned with quotes from great authors and the main reading room (you'd recognize it from the movie National Treasure) is adorned with great bronze statues of great thinkers from each field---from Moses and Paul in religion to Bacon and Plato in philosophy. The Library has 22 reading rooms, each with a different theme (ie. one is literature of the Middle East), as well as two fantastic exhibits on Jefferson's library and the Discovery of the Americas.

This is the entrance to the Main Reading Room. Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom (I believe), is holding the Lamp of Learning, which the founders thought was the light to building a stable and prosperous republic. A side note: the Library was renovated only a bit more than a decade ago, and the art is literally pristine.

How can daddy's girl not be overjoyed in the world's largest library?

Minerva again...

Here we are next to Jefferson, both the great statesman and the cunning politician, depending on who you ask. We thought we'd give him the honor of being in our family blog.

2 comments:

Just catching up on your blog today. Loved all the pictures and especially the video of Sierra! What a hoot! Priceless!Enjoy the rest of your summer and let us know your new address when you get moved.Love from Arizona!